Maliksi: No PCSO post offer

MANILA, Philippines - Rumored as possible replacement for resigned Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) chairman Margie Juico, former Cavite governor Erineo Maliksi said yesterday he had not been offered the job but would gladly accept it if offered to him by President Aquino.

“It has not been offered to me and I am not asking for it,” he said in a radio interview.

Maliksi belongs to the ruling Liberal Party. He unsuccessfully tried to reclaim his gubernatorial post in the May 2013 elections. The one-year prohibition against the appointment of election losers expires next week.

Juico, a family friend of the Aquinos, has resigned as PCSO chairperson.

She said she received information that Maliksi had announced during his recent birthday celebration that he would soon take her place. However, the Cavite politician denied making such announcement.

She said she was giving up her post so she could have more time with family.

Aside from Maliksi, those reportedly being considered for the PCSO post are former senators Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Jamby Madrigal, and former An Waray party-list representative Florencio Noel.

Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City said Maliksi has the credentials to run PCSO. He said Maliksi’s track record as three-term mayor of Imus from 1988 to 1998 and three-term governor of Cavite from 2001 to 2010 should make him “more than qualified to be PCSO chairman.”

Barzaga said Maliksi “personally witnessed and effectively attended to the needs of the people, especially the indigents” when he was mayor and governor.

“Hence, since the mandate of the PCSO is to raise funds to provide opportune and responsive health and welfare assistance, former congressman Maliksi is more than capable of assuming the post of PCSO chairman to effectively carry out the mandate of the agency to finance and support health programs, medical assistance and services, and charities,” Barzaga said.

Barzaga, who belongs to the National Unity Party, also belied talk that President Aquino was considering Maliksi as PCSO chairman just to wipe the Revillas from the Cavite political landscape.